


still breathing

by lostnfound14



Category: Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII Remake (Video Game 2020)
Genre: Final Fantasy VII Remake Spoilers, Gen, Time Shenanigans, Zack Fair Lives
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-06
Updated: 2020-09-06
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:48:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26306590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lostnfound14/pseuds/lostnfound14
Summary: If Zack had anything to admit about the moment he stared down the truly intimidating number of Shinra troops, it was this:He was terrified. Absolutely, bone-chillingly, terrified.-A turn of fate.
Relationships: Zack Fair/Aerith Gainsborough (mentioned)
Kudos: 21





	still breathing

**Author's Note:**

> this is my first foray into the FF7 fandom! i just finished playing the remake but i was familiar with zack because of a lot of research on crisis core and general enjoyment of his character. i'm super glad to see him alive, and i honestly can't stop watching the remake scenes with him in them. anyway, this is just a product of my newfound passion for final fantasy 7. i dashed this one off kind of quickly, but i hope you all enjoy it nonetheless, if you somehow find it!

If Zack had anything to admit about the moment he stared down the truly intimidating number of Shinra troops, it was this:

He was terrified. Absolutely, bone-chillingly, terrified.

So he fell back on what he knew: Angeal's words of wisdom that had been imparted to him like an afterthought, like it was some joke he was trying to pass off. But, possibly without even realizing it, Zack had relied on that mantra to get himself through the more difficult days.

If this was where he were to die, Zack decided that he had already made his peace with it. He'd do whatever he could so that Cloud would live.

“Come and get it,” he demanded. Like flipping a switch, after those words, Zack's brain shut off and all he could focus on was his sword and who was getting in the way of it.

They got him real good a couple of times, and with each devastating blow he took, he had to fight the urge to kneel and accept what was certain to be his fate. But each time he so much as considered it, _she_ filled his mind, and he forced himself to find stable footing and keep fighting.

And just when he felt like he could hardly stand, bloodied and bruised and shot through like a bullseye at target practice, he realized that there was an eerie silence in the desert around him.

"Wait," he huffed disbelievingly, watching a tumbleweed that rolled on by. It didn’t stop to listen, set on its course. "Was that all of them?"

Only the breeze answered him.

Zack let out a shaky breath. Something about this situation felt wrong. They had sent an entire Shinra kill squad, and then some, after him. He was just one man. And somehow, he had survived.

He looked at his quivering hands, the ones that gripped at the handle of the Buster Sword like his life depended on it (because, in a way, he knew that it did). Was he capable of such a feat? Or had someone, someone unseen, helped him to victory?

Zack squeezed his eyes shut and then opened them again. Such questions would do him no good, especially when he was bleeding out of a million holes in his body and there was someone waiting for him behind the rock wall. Maybe he thought he deserved to die, but in that moment, that glorious moment, he was still breathing.

"Hey, Cloud," he called, beginning to hobble back toward the cranny where he'd deposited the kid. "You see that?"

**Author's Note:**

> i hope you guys enjoyed this :) leave a kudos and comment if you did!


End file.
